


A Short Detour

by disco_agidyne



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Wildcardshipping, soukira
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 16:57:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12173010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disco_agidyne/pseuds/disco_agidyne
Summary: Lost in the city, Yu gets a little help from a cute local and his cat.





	A Short Detour

Yu looked up from his map, then back down, then back up, frowning ever so slightly as he confirmed two things.

One, he would be late.

Two, he was lost.

The train terminal was bustling with its usual daily crowd, many of whom were winding around him as he stood there comparing his map to the station’s guide on the wall. He had a theory that he’d taken the wrong train somewhere along the line. That his pop star rendezvous was at another station, so to speak. He allowed himself a wry smile at his own joke, but couldn’t laugh, not when he thought of how crammed Rise’s schedule was, and how she’d made time for him in spite of it, and how all he had to do was show up.

“Failed step one,” he sighed to himself, rubbing his neck. He pulled out his phone and sent her a short text telling her that he was lost and what station he was at. His phone buzzed again just as he’d been about to slide it into his pocket. She was running late too, thanks to a talkative producer going on too long about his plans for their current project. Then there was another message, asking him how a city boy got lost so easily.

‘ _Inaba made me soft_ ,’ he replied. Rise replied with an emoticon his old phone couldn’t display. Yu could only assume it was something cute. Shortly after, she said she’d meet him at a café near where he was. The name didn’t look familiar.

Yu started typing out a message back, but then paused and perked up when he heard a distinct meow come from a stranger’s bag that had slapped his elbow. He looked around, and about ten steps away, sure enough, there was a young man with a black cat poking out of his bag, the cat’s white paws planted firmly on his shoulder. They looked like they were having a conversation, right there in the middle of the busy station.

Yu’s legs were moving before his thoughts could catch up with what he was doing.

“Excuse me.”

The cat tapped the other boy’s shoulder and meowed at him. He turned around, one hand stuffed in his pocket and the other adjusting his glasses.

“Yeah?”

“Your cat is very handsome.”

The boy raised his eyebrows. The cat puffed out his chest and meowed a few more times, making oddly humanlike gestures to himself. The boy looked at his cat, then shrugged and turned back to Yu.

“He says thanks.”

The cat seemed to frown a bit, then said something else, but the boy didn’t bother to translate.

“Can I pet him?”

The cat frowned deeper and whined.

“Only when it suits you, huh,” the boy said quietly to his cat, smiling to himself, and for the first time, Yu took a good look at the boy’s face instead of the cat’s, letting his gaze follow the curve of the boy’s lips, then pulling it up to the boy’s dark eyes which were framed not just with glasses but with long, thick lashes. “He’s not open for pets today.”

Yu blinked back to reality.

“That’s… too bad.”

Yu shot an embarrassed glance at the floor, and then scratched his head as the conversation slowed to an awkward, painful stop.

“That all you wanted?”

The boy was bouncing one foot on the floor and glancing at the exit.

“Ah…” Yu cleared his throat, more to stall for time than out of necessity, then pulled out his phone. “Are you familiar with the area? I’m kinda lost.”

The boy pulled his hand from his pocket and made a so-so motion with it.

“More or less.” He put his hand back in his pocket. “I think Mona knows it better than I do.”

“Mona?”

The boy tilted his head toward the cat.

“…Right.” Yu took a breath and flipped open his phone.

“How old is that thing?”

Yu looked up from his phone, then back down, then back up, with a tiny frown on his face.

“It still works,” Yu said, with just a hint of whine in his voice. He opened Rise’s text and showed it to him. “I’m looking for this place.”

“Oh, yeah. I know that place.” The boy took his hand out of his pocket again and gestured the directions as he said them. Yu nodded along with each instruction, listening less to the words and more to the rhythm of the voice he said them in. “Got it?”

Yu’s brows came together, and a frown tugged at the edge of his mouth.

“Um...” He opened up his map again, trying to pretend he was genuinely confused and that he hadn’t just missed the entire route. “No.”

Mona brought his paw to his forehead and made a sad sound that even Yu could tell was disappointment.

Noticing the sweat from his hands starting to soak into his map, Yu folded it back up and stuck it in his pocket.

“I’m not great with directions,” Yu said with a sheepish smile. “Maybe you could show me the way?”

There was a flat noise from Mona, one that Yu had no idea cats could even make. The boy gave a small chuckle and scratched Mona’s head, much to Mona’s obvious chagrin.

“I’ve got some time to kill.” He shrugged and walked on ahead, making a lazy arm motion for Yu to follow him. Mona rolled his eyes and disappeared into the bag to make himself comfortable.

The three of them left the station and made their way down the street, which was thankfully less crowded than the station had been. The evening was setting in, and the towering buildings that lined the streets were starting to glitter with lights.

“You a tourist?”

“Visiting a friend.”

“Gotcha.”

They walked a little further,  bumping elbows when the crowd was as thick as the sidewalk.

“I’m Yu, by the way.”

The boy glanced up at him, then turned back to the street.

“Akira.”

“How long have you lived here?”

Akira played with his bangs.

“A while.” He let his hair fall back over the bridge of his glasses and pointed left, ignoring the slight frown on Yu’s face. “Turn here.”

They turned the corner and found a less busy street.

“You carry your cat with you everywhere?”

A sound came from Akira’s bag and he gave it a light shove with his elbow.

“Pretty much. You’re really into cats, huh?”

Yu gave the sidewalk a glance as he felt his face turn a bashful pink.

“They’re pretty cute.”

Akira let out a small laugh and bumped his elbow against Yu’s.

“Yeah, I guess they are. This your first time to Tokyo?”

“I’ve been here once before, but I didn’t get to look around much. I was pretty young at the time.”

Akira pointed right, and they crossed the street to a narrow road without a sidewalk.

“Stuff changes fast around here, too. It’s hard to keep track of it even if you live here.”

“Yeah?”

“See that record store?” Akira nodded at a brightly lit place across the way that was pumping music through speakers near the door. “It was a barber shop a week ago.”

“Oh.” Yu scratched his head. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Nah, it’s normal. I’m sure that place will be something else soon, too. The locals are tired of all the noise.”

“It is kinda late, huh.”

“Yeah. They won’t last long.”

They were still walking close, even with the crowds growing thinner. The backs of their hands bumped together. Neither said anything for about half a block, until Yu cleared his throat.

“So what do you like to do for fun around here?”

Akira raised his eyebrows, then smirked to himself and slid his hand back into his pocket.

“Around here, like in Tokyo, or like, around here?”

“Whichever.”

“There’s this ramen place my friend really likes in Ogikubo. Destinyland’s pretty close.” Akira pulled his hand back out to rub his neck. “The maid cafes in Akiba aren’t bad if you’ve got the cash.”

“You like maids?”

“You would zoom in on that.”

Yu let out a soft laugh through his nose.

“You don’t seem like the type.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t seem like the type to be bad with directions, but here we are.”

Yu turned to Akira, who was wearing a smug smile and a knowing look that made Yu feel a little warm as he chuckled weakly.

“Anything else?”

“There’s a planetarium in Ikebukuro.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s alright.”

“Only ‘alright’?”

Akira shrugged.

“It’s kind of a couples hangout.”

“Maybe…” Yu turned his pink face toward the sidewalk. “You could show me the way some time?”

“Maybe,” Akira said quietly, a soft blush of his own underlining his glasses. He stopped walking, then grabbed Yu’s hand when Yu didn’t stop with him. “We’re here.”

Yu lifted his head to look at the place, and sure enough, there it was, open only an hour more. He could see Rise through the window, and she waved at him. He waved back, then looked down at their hands, still linked together.

“I guess this is it then.”

“I guess so.”

Neither of them moved nor let go, both of them letting their eyes wander around, not really sure if they should look at each other or avert their eyes. They sidestepped together when another customer passed them to reach the door, then turned to each other, squeezing the other’s hand and laughing.

A groan came from Akira’s bag.

“I, uh…” Yu rubbed his neck with his free hand. “I better get going. I’m already kinda late.”

“Right,” Akira said, passing a glance to Yu’s friend, only to see her smirking at them. He gave Yu’s hand a small shake, then let go.

“Thanks.”

Yu took a step toward the door, but a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

“Wait.” Akira reached into his bag and pulled out a card. He brushed the cat fur from it and handed it to Yu. “Here. You know, in case you’re ever looking for a good café.”

“Ouch.” Yu flipped over the card and looked it over. “Leblanc, huh?”

“Stop by sometime and I’ll brew something up for you.”

Yu lifted his head and smiled.

“I’d like that.” He looked down at the card again and laughed. “I hope I can find it.”

Akira let out a small laugh of his own.

“Call that number. Ask for me. I’ll find you.”

“I’ll do that,” Yu said, feeling the heat reach his ears, but grinning through it.  “So, uh… See you soon?”

“You better.”

Yu tucked the card away in his pocket, took a step toward the door, then abruptly stopped.

“By the way,” Yu started to say, and Akira perked up. “You’re pretty handsome, too.”

As Yu disappeared into the café with a small wave, Akira stood speechless at the door, glowing bright red from the neck up.

Mona popped out of his bag.

“Looks like someone got his heart stolen.”

“Shut up,” Akira mumbled, pushing Mona’s head back into the bag, and then tugging at his bangs as he headed back to the station, smiling to himself the whole way there.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something fluffy bc there isn't a lot of fluff in the wildcardshipping/soukira tag and also like my whole AO3 page is smut and I wanted to do something cute and sfw for once.
> 
> Coincidentally, this is also my first work written entirely after Akira's name reveal, so that's cool! :D  
> And also my first work written after knowing Morgana's canon personality, so yay!
> 
> Morgana has a lot of unwritten lines in this fic, and I hope the body language is clear enough to get them through.
> 
> A big thank you to Angevon for not only proofreading this but also suggesting the hand holding that REALLY. MAKES THE ENDING. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


End file.
